Bathing Water Monitoring

Monitoring the cleanliness of recreational beaches is becoming a worldwide issue (e.g. the EPA Beach Act in the USA and The Bathing Water Directive in Europe). The revised EU Bathing Waters Directive of 2015 now requires maintaining low levels of E Coli and Enterococci within Bathing Waters. Authorities responsible for these bathing waters require new tools to monitor levels of these bacteria in real-time.

The CTG BACTI-Wader & BACTI-Wader Pro offers a low cost, easily deployed, solution and can be sited close to bathing beaches and within nearby estuaries and rivers to provide early notification of potential non-compliance (e.g. resulting from agricultural run-off following high rainfall or CSO events). Offering unparalleled sensitivity, the BACTI-Wader sensors can detect small changes in bacteria concentrations, offering the potential of setting alarms to warn when acceptable contamination levels are exceeded. These systems allow surveyors and regulators to assess real-time, in situ levels of bacteria in water systems. This is achieved by detecting UV Tryptophan fluorescence, which has been shown to correlate with bacterial levels.

What is Tryptophan?Tryptophan is an essential amino acid in human diet and is the main component of protein fluorescence. It is associated with microbial activity, i.e. from sewage and faecal contamination of waste waters. Published data over the past decade has clearly demonstrated a strong correlation between Tryptophan-like fluorescence and BOD.